Author: Ryan

Poe Dameron #17 starts a new arc, “War Stories,” which brings back one of my favorite new comic characters of 2016, Suralinda Javos, while also putting the ladies of Black Squadron front and center and the search for the “traitor” Oddy Muva heats back up. Sure, there’s plenty of set-up, but it’s entertaining as you’ve come to expect this series to be. Continue reading “Canon Comic Review: Poe Dameron #17”→

The Darth Maul comic closes out its run with issue #5, and as surprisingly good as the series got over its short run, plus as entertaining and exciting of a new character as Jedi Padawan Eldra became, it comes to an all too predictable, safe end that keeps it from greatness. Continue reading “Canon Comic Review: Darth Maul #5”→

While everyone, including your grandparents, will likely still call it Star Wars Land, at the D23 Expo 2017 its official name has been unveiled as Galaxy’s Edge. Fittingly named considering it takes place on a planet at the edge of Wild Space, which is basically the edge of the known Star Wars galaxy, the first Galaxy’s Edge opens at Disney Land in 2019 (once again making a case for Celebration 2019 to take place in Anaheim). Plenty of new details were released regarding the experience, as well as the news a fully immersive Star Wars hotel experience was on its way as well. Also at D23, Battlefront II got some focus in a video game livestream, where Steve Blank (Lucasfilm Story Group) and Janina Gavankar, who plays the game’s main character Commander Iden Versio, chatted about the game and released an extensive BTS featurette on the game’s story. Check out more about Galaxy’s Edge (yes, there is blue milk!) and the new Battlefront II footage below! Continue reading “D23 Expo 2017: Star Wars Land Details, Name, and Immersive Hotel, plus Battlefront II BTS Featurette”→

I found myself intrigued, confused, and patiently awaiting more after The Last Jedi‘s teaser at Celebration Orlando back in April, but I have to say, my excitement, hype, and trust we’ve got an amazing experience ahead with The Last Jedi is now through the roof after the above BTS featurette shown at D23 today (which, if you’ve been following the site Making Star Wars, there’s plenty here that confirms much of what they’ve been revealing for awhile now). From the space animals (foxes, horses, and porgs, oh my!), Rey in various Jedi garbs and fighting stances (one fight training sequence shows her against three opponents at once!), Poe, Finn, and Rose on various missions for the Resistance (including Finn and Rose going undercover in the First Order and what looks like Poe flying an A-wing like his mom!), new characters like Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Holdo chatting with Leia and Benecio Del Toro’s “DJ” looking restless in a ship, the Canto Bight casino looking like the only casino I ever want to enter again, to Leia looking regal as all hell (and tears avoidably falling from seeing Carrie Fisher), this BTS footage will be a day long remembered for Star Wars fans. December 15 is even further away now after watching this a couple hundred times. Also, when are the Porg (those cute little penguin looking animals on Ach-to) plushies going on sale? I need at least 10…maybe more. Along with the rest of our The Last Jedi coverage below, check out some striking new character posters for TLJ and some official images from the panel itself! Continue reading “The Last Jedi Behind the Scenes Featurette Unveiled at D23 2017 (UPDATED)”→

Fresh off the Screaming Citadel crossover with the Star Wars series, Doctor Aphra #9 puts the titular character back on the search for more credits, setting up a black market bidding war on her newly awoken Rur crystal. As great as parts of the crossover were for Aphra, putting her back at the forefront of her own series in her own criminal corner of the galaxy is a refreshing reminder of her series’ potential in the first place, while the issue’s cliffhanger is going to have every Aphra fan praying to the Force for her and for more, as this is the series at its best! Continue reading “Canon Comic Review: Doctor Aphra #9”→

Forces of Destiny‘s final episode of the first eight returns us to Garel, but instead of watching Jyn help some innocents, we see Sabine and Leia get into a “Bounty of Trouble.” There’s some good variety to this episode compared to the first 7, as Sabine feigns being a bounty hunter to get Leia by herself so they can make a transfer of Imperial datatapes…until an actual bounty hunter, IG-88 (!!) shows up and messes things up for everyone. Of course Sabine gets the tapes and Leia remains incognito Rebellion helper, but it’s done in such an amusing way that only Sabine, the master of colors, and Leia could pull off; I seriously hope we’ll get to see these together a bit more, beyond Leia’s sole (so far) Rebels appearance. Since it’ll be until Fall before the series continues, this was a particularly strong one to end on for a bit. Building off that fact that these were originally supposed to air on the Disney Channel July 9, which didn’t happen, this episode dropped nearly at midnight CST, which seems extremely odd considering the main market for these shorts. We’ll have overall impressions of the first eight episodes up soon! Click on through for links to the rest of the shorts. Continue reading “A “Bounty of Trouble” Follows Sabine and Leia in Forces of Destiny”→

As great as it was to see Ahsoka and Anakin together again, it warms the heart even more to not only see Ahsoka and Padme together, taking down someone foolish to fight them, but just to see Padme irregardless, as it feels like she’s gotten the shortest stick out of all the prequel characters. “The Imposter Inside” allows us to see both Padme’s diplomatic focus but also her hidden badassey when the need arises. Jyn Erso stars in the other new episode, “The Stranger,” where she saves an innocent girl’s cat (like the Loth-cat, but from Garel, also a planet first visited on Rebels). I felt like it was the stronger of the two considering Jyn had to go out of her way to save the day, and knowing her full backstory from other material, like the YA novel Rebel Rising, highlights how this was an action she took to help prevent someone else from suffering the same losses she did as a child.

Leia manages to save Chewbacca and the rest of Echo Base from the Wampas hiding in the caves in Forces of Destiny‘s latest short, “Beasts of Echo Base.” In a way, this story is set up for a series of deleted scenes from the Empire Strikes Back regarding a Wampa attack subplot, which were included in the 2014 Blu-ray release of the Saga. It seemed kind of silly at first that Chewie might be a captive of the Wampa, but he does seem to have a history of disliking/fearing creatures, which makes him an even more entertaining character considering most people are always so fearful of him and really he’s just a giant softy at heart. Leia puts a lot of trust in Artoo and Chewie to get the door fixed in time and for her to take the responsibility of being Wampa bait should come at no surprise. Likewise, Shelby Young continues to be a solid and welcomed voice actress for the character! Another fine little short, with 3 more to come (I’m curious to see if they only release one more via online Saturday and keep the final two for the Disney Channel Sunday, July 9…or release one that day and then the final one with the TV airing. We’ll see soon enough!). Links for the other shorts below. Continue reading “Forces of Destiny Pits Leia Against The “Beasts of Echo Base””→

Having started with Rey, visited with Leia, and now bringing Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein, of course!) back to the little screen during the Clone Wars, Forces of Destiny is taking us slowly back in time and I’m happy to see it’ll jump wherever it wants to in the timeline. In “The Padawan Path,” Ahsoka, pre-leaving the Jedi Order, gets caught up with saving citizens while on her way to a special Jedi ceremony with Anakin and Yoda. Her little fight with the out of control droid highlights her ingenuity and willingness to help others, no matter the circumstances (and a great lesson for anyone to learn). While Anakin’s character model felt a bit off, Matt Lanter back voicing him made the point moot…so great to hear these two together again! Out of all the episodes so far, “The Padawan Path” is the most bittersweet, considering how and why she ends up giving the braid she receives here back to the Jedi before leaving, as well as what happens between Master and Apprentice on a little planet called Malachor (which Dave Filoni just exploded the head’s of Ahsoka fans about with this tweet regarding a meeting between her and the in-the-middle Bendu. Whoa). Continue reading “Forces of Destiny Puts Ahsoka Tano on “The Padawan Path””→